Two corona vaccines may be approved this year in the EU and Norway – VG

Norway is part of an EU alliance that focuses on six different corona vaccines. Three of them have already been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

However, the big question is how long it will take. Because before a vaccine is approved, neither Norway nor the other EU countries receive doses.

Previously, the Norwegian Medicines Agency expected January 2021. For the first time, the EMA now estimates that an approval may come as early as 2020. Specifically in the second half of December.

– It is the first step to get a vaccine on the market, and the EMA says it can go as fast with vaccines from Modern Y BioNTech / Pfizer. But only if everything goes smoothly, says Ursula von der Leyen, writes NTB.

Both companies have recently reported that their vaccines are more than 90 percent effective. The requirement to be approved in the EU and Norway is 50 percent.

What vaccines can be approved? Click on Moderna and BioNTech / Pfizer vaccines to read more about them. These are the six EU bets on:

How long does it take?

The head of the European Commission emphasizes that this does not mean that mass vaccination can be started immediately.

– At first it will be a matter of small numbers, large quantities will only arrive later, says von der Leyen.

She has previously indicated that vaccination in the EU countries and Norway can start in earnest in April.

• First approval: Once a vaccine is approved, doses must be shipped to all countries. It is difficult for FHI to estimate how long this will take, because it wonders which vaccine is approved.
• To Norway: In Norway, FHI receives them at its central warehouse.
• To the municipalities: Then the doses will be sent to the municipalities. FHI estimates that it can take two to three weeks from the moment they receive the first doses in Norway until the first group is vaccinated.
• WHO? Exactly who in Norway will get the vaccine first, the government has yet to decide.
• A cold problem: The two vaccines that the EU highlights here require cold storage. While Modernthe vaccine will probably have to be transported and stored at minus 20 degrees, the vaccine requires BioNTech / Pfizer maybe 70 degrees below zero.

Also the vaccine for AstraZeneca / University of Oxford has applied for approval in the EU. In fact, they were the first to apply, but von der Leyen does not point to this as a vaccine that can be approved in 2020.